Methods and systems for dynamically generating coupons associated with presentation instruments

ABSTRACT

This disclosure describes, generally, methods and systems for dynamically generating coupons. The method may include associating a coupon value with a manufacturer&#39;s offer onto a presentation instrument. The presentation instrument may include a barcode to store terms of the manufacturer&#39;s offer and a storage device to store coupon value information. The method may further include distributing the presentation instrument to a customer, scanning the barcode to verify the terms of the offer have been fulfilled, and presenting the presentation instrument to a merchant to access the coupon value information stored on the storage device. Furthermore, the method includes receiving funds in the amount of the coupon value from the manufacturer, and transferring the received funds to the merchant.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/057,759, entitled “Methods and Systems for Dynamically GeneratingCoupons Associated with Presentation Instruments,” filed on 28 Mar.2008, the complete disclosure of which is herein incorporated byreference for all intents and purposes.

This application is related to and incorporates for all purposes U.S.patent application Ser. No. 10/855,867, entitled “System and Method forInitializing Financial Presentation Instruments,” filed on 26 May 2004.

COPYRIGHT STATEMENT

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains materialthat is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent documentor the patent disclosure as it appears in the U.S. Patent and TrademarkOffice patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrightrights whatsoever.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates, in general, to coupons and, moreparticularly, to dynamically generating coupons associated with apresentation instrument.

BACKGROUND

Traditionally, a manufacturer will distribute a coupon associated with aproduct to various customers and/or distributors. Such coupons may bedistributed using a newspaper or a mailer. A customer receives thecoupon and decides to purchase the corresponding product. Accordingly,the customer then goes to a merchant's store, retrieves the product, andbrings both the product and the coupon to a cashier. The cashier checksthe coupon against the product and, based on the coupon and the productmatching, the customer can pay a reduced amount for the product.

At this point, the merchant is not responsible for receiving areimbursement from the manufacturer for the discounted amount. Themerchant must send the used coupons to a clearinghouse, which then sendsa request to the manufacturer for payment. After processing andverification, the manufacturer will send payment to the merchant. Thisprocess can take many weeks, even months to complete, delaying paymentto merchants. In addition, this process is prone to fraud as well asmistakes. Hence, there is a need for improved methods and systems in theart.

BRIEF SUMMARY

Embodiments of the present invention are directed to a method of dynamiccoupon generation. The method may include associating a coupon valuewith a manufacturer's offer onto a presentation instrument. Thepresentation instrument may include a barcode to store terms of themanufacturer's offer and a storage device to store coupon valueinformation. The method may further include distributing thepresentation instrument to a customer, scanning the barcode to verifythe terms of the offer have been fulfilled, and presenting thepresentation instrument to a merchant to access the coupon valueinformation stored on the storage device. Furthermore, the method mayreceive funds in the amount of the coupon value from the manufacturer,and transfer the received funds to the merchant.

According to further embodiments, a system for dynamic coupon generationis described. The system may include a stored value host which isconfigured to associate a coupon value with a manufacturer's offer ontoa presentation instrument. The presentation instrument may include abarcode to store terms of the manufacturer's offer and a storage deviceto store the coupon value information. The system may further include acoupon processing host coupled with the stored value host which isconfigured to distribute the presentation instrument.

The system may further include a barcode scanning device coupled withthe coupon processing host which is configured to scan the barcode toverify that the terms of the offer have been fulfilled. The system mayinclude a point of sale device, at a merchant location, which coupledwith the stored value host and configured to receive a swipe of thepresentation instrument to access the coupon value information stored onthe presentation instrument's storage device, and transmit theinformation to the stored value host. The stored value host may befurther configured to receive funds in the amount of the coupon valuefrom the manufacturer, and transfer the received funds to the merchant.

In an alternative embodiment, a machine-readable medium is described.The machine-readable medium may include instructions for associating acoupon value with a manufacturer's offer onto a presentation instrument.The presentation instrument may include a barcode to store terms of themanufacturer's offer and a storage device to store coupon valueinformation. The machine-readable medium may further includeinstructions for distributing the presentation instrument to a customer,scanning the barcode to verify the terms of the offer have beenfulfilled, and presenting the presentation instrument to a merchant toaccess the coupon value information stored on the storage device.Furthermore, in response to accessing the coupon value informationstored on the storage device, the machine-readable medium may includeinstructions for receiving funds in the amount of the coupon value fromthe manufacturer, and transferring the received funds to the merchant.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A further understanding of the nature and advantages of the presentinvention may be realized by reference to the remaining portions of thespecification and the drawings wherein like reference numerals are usedthroughout the several drawings to refer to similar components. In someinstances, a sub-label is associated with a reference numeral to denoteone of multiple similar components. When reference is made to areference numeral without specification to an existing sub-label, it isintended to refer to all such multiple similar components.

FIG. 1A is a block diagram illustrating a presentation instrumentaccording to embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 1B is a block diagram further illustrating the presentationinstrument according to embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating dynamic coupon generationaccording to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating dynamic coupon registrationaccording to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a system for dynamicallygenerating and/or registering coupons according to one embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 5 is a generalized schematic diagram illustrating a computersystem, in accordance with various embodiments of the invention.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a networked system of computers,which can be used in accordance with various embodiments of theinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

While various aspects of embodiments of the invention have beensummarized above, the following detailed description illustratesexemplary embodiments in further detail to enable one of skill in theart to practice the invention. In the following description, for thepurposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth inorder to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. Itwill be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that the presentinvention may be practiced without some of these specific details. Inother instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in blockdiagram form. Several embodiments of the invention are described belowand, while various features are ascribed to different embodiments, itshould be appreciated that the features described with respect to oneembodiment may be incorporated with another embodiment as well. By thesame token, however, no single feature or features of any describedembodiment should be considered essential to the invention, as otherembodiments of the invention may omit such features.

Aspects of the present invention relate to dynamic coupon generation. Inone embodiment, such coupons may be generated using a presentationinstrument which can have stored value associated with the instrumentfor the amount of the coupon. For example, a manufacturer has a product(e.g., a cleaning product) that they would like to promote. As part ofthe promotion, the manufacturer may distribute presentation instrumentswith an associated value of, for example, $0.40 off of the cleaningproduct. A customer that receives the presentation instrument can thensimply take the presentation instrument to a merchant who carries thecleaning product and purchase the product at the discounted price.

In one embodiment, the presentation instrument may include, for example,a barcode and a magnetic stripe. As such, when the customer is checkingout, the cashier can scan the barcode to verify that the productpurchased matched the coupon offer. In one embodiment, the barcode onthe presentation instrument may match the barcode on the productassociated with the coupon offer (i.e., the cleaning product). Thecustomer may then be prompted to swipe the magnetic stripe at, forexample, a point of sale (POS) device. The funds on the presentationinstrument are verified, and the customer is sold the product at thediscounted price (in this example at $0.40 off).

Subsequently, a request for payment of the discounted amount may then besent from the merchant to the stored value host. The stored value hostmay then receive the appropriate funding amount (possibly less a fee)from the manufacturer. The funds may then be transferred to themerchant. Hence, the merchant is able to receive payment much faster andthe manufacturer does not need to hassle with receiving and verifyingpaper coupons because of the stored value host.

In a further embodiment, the presentation instrument may includeinstructions for registering the coupon. An incentive for registrationmay be an increase of the $0.40 off coupon to a $1.00 off coupon. Thecustomer may be prompted to provide the manufacturer with personalinformation during the registration process. The manufacturer canbenefit from this personal information because the manufacturer nowreceives actual redemption data. The manufacturer also knows demographicinformation for the customers purchasing their products. Once thecustomer has registered, the customer can then redeem the higher valuecoupon.

Turning now to FIG. 1A which illustrates a presentation instrument 105according to one embodiment of the present invention. In one embodiment,a presentation instrument may be a stored value card, a prepaid creditcard, a gift card, etc. Alternatively, a presentation instrument may beembedded in a cellular telephone device, a handheld device, a mobiledevice, etc. In addition, the presentation instrument may be anelectronic instrument, a virtual instrument, and e-wallet, etc.Essentially, the presentation instrument may be any instrument which hasthe ability to store a value and retrieve that value.

In one embodiment, the presentation instrument may include a barcode 110and/or a magnetic stripe 115. Barcode 110 may be a coupon barcode whichmay include information about the coupon offer. For example, the barcodemay include information about the product which the coupon is associatedwith, the discount type, the discount amount, an expiration date(s),redemption restrictions, etc. Alternatively, the presentation instrumentmay use a different storage mechanism. For example, instead of using abarcode to store coupon information, a magnetic stripe, an RFtransmitter, a smart chip, a solid state storage device, etc., may beused.

In one embodiment, magnetic stripe 115 may be used to store informationabout the funds associated with redemption of the coupon. For example,in the example above, the redemption value of the coupon was $0.40; assuch the magnetic stripe would store an identifier with would identify astored value account or prepaid credit account in which the funds may bestored. Accordingly, upon redemption of the coupon, the account identityis verified with, for example, a stored value host, and uponverification that the account is valid the funds would be transferred.

Alternatively, the magnetic stripe may be replaced with a smart chip, aflash memory, a solid state memory, an RF transmitter, etc. Any one ofthese storage devices may be used to store the account identifier aswell as other account information. Alternatively, as discussed above,the account information may be stored in a portable or cellular device.For example, the customer may connect the portable device to a computersystem (via a universal serial bus (USB) connection or the like), anddownload an on-line coupon to their portable device. The downloadedcoupon may be redeemed at an online retailer, for example, or othermerchant. Alternatively, the customer may transfer the coupon to theirportable device via email, text messaging, etc.

In a further embodiment, presentation instrument 105 may include anaccount number 120. Account number 120 may be the account identifierdescribed above or may be an additional or alternative number. Forexample, account number 120 may be a prepaid credit card account numberwhich the customer may use to redeem the coupon value from the card. Assuch, presentation instrument 105 may also include an expiration date(not shown).

Alternatively, account number 120 may be a unique identifier that canidentify, for example, the specific coupon offer, the accountinformation, or may be used in a registration process. FIG. 1B whichfurther illustrates presentation instrument 105 includes registrationinstructions 125. In one embodiment, registration instructions 125 maybe used to instruct the customer as to how to register the presentationinstrument. For example, registration instructions 125 may include auniversal resource locator (URL) for the customer to go to use a webbrowser. Once the customer accesses the website associated with the URL,the website may provide the customer with further registrationinstructions. The customer may be asked to provide account number 120 inorder to identify presentation instrument 105.

Alternatively, or in addition to the URL, registration instructions 125may include a telephone number for the customer to call. The customermay call in to an interactive voice recognition (IVR) system, a callcenter, or the like, and be asked to provide account number 120 or otheridentification information. Additionally, during the registrationprocess the customer may be asked to provide personal information inorder to be able to complete the registration process. For example, thewebsite may provide various fields for the customer to fill in (e.g.,name, address, telephone number(s), date of birth, ethnic background,occupation, income level, interests, etc.). Similarly, the IVR system orcall center may ask the customer such questions during the registrationprocess.

Presentation instrument 105 may further include a logo 130 and a logo135. Logo 130 may include a financial network's logo (e.g., the STAR™network logo, the VISA™ logo, a banking network logo, etc.). In oneembodiment, logo 135 may be a product logo (e.g., the cleaning product'slogo) or may be a company logo (e.g., manufacturer X's logo). Logo 135may cover a only a portion of presentation instrument 105 oralternatively may completely cover presentation instrument 105 (i.e., asa background image).

Turning now to FIG. 2 which illustrates a method 200 of dynamic coupongeneration according to aspects of the present invention. In oneembodiment, method 200 may be implemented in conjunction with thepresentation instrument in FIGS. 1A and 1B. At process block 205, acoupon value may be associated with a presentation instrument (e.g.,presentation instrument 105). In one embodiment, the presentationinstrument may include a storage device (e.g., a magnetic stripe) and abarcode. As such, the coupon value may be associated with and stored bythe magnetic stripe and the coupon terms may be stored in the barcode.Furthermore, the coupon value may be inactive and require some sort ofregistration and/or activation in order for the coupon value to beavailable for use.

At process block 210, the presentation instruments may be distributed tocustomers. The distribution may be through a mailing, a newspaper, amagazine, through retail (and other merchant) establishments, onlinepresentation instruments may be distributed via email, website pop-upsor links, text messages, etc. For example, a customer may be browsingmanufacturer X's website and receive a popup or click on a link thatadvertises “$0.40 off A cleaning product! and register now for $1.00 offthe cleaning product.” The customer would then click the advertisementand, for example, may be emailed the discount, mailed a presentationinstrument, given a phone number to call, etc. Hence, manufacturers areafforded many different ways in which they can distribute coupons whichare in some way associated with a presentation instrument and a storedvalue account.

Furthermore, after a customer receives the coupon presentationinstrument (or similar instrument) the customer may wish to purchase theproduct. At process block 215, the barcode on the presentationinstrument may be scanned at the time of purchase. In one embodiment,the scanning of the barcode may be performed in order to verify that theterms of the coupon offer have been met. For example, the coupon offermay be “buy 1 box of a cleaning product and get 1 box free.” As such, ifthe customer has only purchased 1 box of the cleaning product, thecoupon would be ineffective and the terms of the coupon would not havebeen met. Hence, by scanning the barcode, the coupon offer is able to beverified.

Upon verification of the coupon offer's terms, the customer may thenpresent the presentation instrument to the merchant (process block 220).For example, when the customer is ready to present payment they mayfirst be prompted at, for example a point of sale (POS) device, to swipethe magnetic stripe of the coupon presentation instrument.Alternatively, the customer may be asked to enter an identifierassociated with the presentation instrument; nonetheless, the customerwould be prompted to provide some identification of the couponpresentation instrument.

In one embodiment, upon receipt of the identifying information a lookupin a database of accounts may be preformed. The lookup may check thedatabase to determine if the account is a valid account. If the accountis valid, then funds in the amount of the coupon may be earmarked, orthe value of the coupon amount may be retrieved. Alternatively, theaccount may be debited for the amount of the coupon. In a furtherembodiment, multiple earmarks or other such designations may be batchedtogether and a single payment request may be transmitted to themanufacturer.

At process block 225, funds may be received from the manufacturer of theproduct for which the coupon is associated. In one embodiment, themanufacturer may transfer the funds using money transfer, EFT, an ACHtransfer, a check, etc. Alternatively, the manufacturer may transfer thefunds directly to the merchant, additionally, the merchant may send thepayment request to the manufacturer.

It should be noted that alternatively the coupon offer may be for amanufacturer, in general (e.g., manufacturer X's coupon offer), and notjust an individual product. Furthermore, the presentation instrument maybe refillable. For example, once the initial coupon offer has been usedor has expired, the manufacturer may re-associate a new offer or offerswith the instrument. As such, the presentation instrument can bedynamically associated with different coupon offers. Hence, for example,a manufacturer X's presentation instrument may initially have a cleaningproduct coupon offer, a hygiene product coupon offer, and then generalmanufacturer X's coupon offer, etc.

In one embodiment, the customer may receive messages and/or remindersregarding their coupon presentation instrument (e.g., via email, textmessages, mail, voicemail, etc.). Such a message may remind the customerof an approaching expiration date, or may notify the customer of a newoffer now available with their instrument. Furthermore, based on thecustomer's usage of the instrument to redeem the coupon offers, loyaltyoffers may be generated in connection with the presentation instrument.For example, if the customer consistently uses the coupon associatedwith the instrument for 3 months in a row, the customer may receive, forexample, an additional $1.00 coupon. Alternatively, based on thecustomer purchasing history, it may be determined that the customeralways purchases bath tissue once per month. Therefore, the customer maybe offered a coupon for the bath tissue on the presentation instrument.Accordingly, the coupon offers associated with the presentationinstrument may be customized for a customer's individual needs, and thencoupons may be dynamically associated with the instrument.

Referring back to process block 225, the funds may be received from themanufacturer in the amount of the coupon offer. In addition, the couponoffer amount may be received with an additional service processing fee.Alternatively, the manufacturer may have, prior to distributing thepresentation instruments, authorized, for example, a stored value hostto pay out the coupon discount amounts upon redemption.

At process block 230, the received funds may now be transferred to themerchant in which the product receiving the coupon discount has beenpurchased. In one embodiment, the merchant may receive an electronicfunds transfer (EFT) for the amount of the discount. In the alternative,the merchant may receive a batch funds transfer for all of the couponsused in a given day, week, etc. Hence, the merchant is able to receivethe funds to cover the coupon discount at a much faster rate than anytraditional method.

Referring to FIG. 3 which illustrates a method 300 of dynamic couponregistration according to aspects of the present invention. Method 300may be integrated with the processes in method 200 from FIG. 2, ormethod 300 may work independently from method 200 in FIG. 2. At processblock 305, the presentation instrument may have any initial couponamount associated with it. For example, referring back to the earlierexample above, the initial coupon offer may be $0.40 off a cleaningproduct. At process block 310, the presentation instruments with theinitial coupon value may be distributed to various customers.

At process block 315, as discussed above, the customer may be providedwith registration instructions. Such instructions may include, forexample, a telephone number to contact, a URL to access, a list of stepsto complete the registration process, etc. At process block 320, thecustomer may access a website to initiate the registration process.Nonetheless, other registration processes may be used. The customer mayfurther be provided with a default username and password, oralternatively the customer may be prompted at the website to provide ausername and password.

Once the customer has access to the website and/or logged in or set upan account (i.e., a username and password), the customer may then beprompted to provide personal information (process block 325). In oneembodiment, such personal information may include the customer's name,email address(es), address(es), phone number(s), date of birth,ethnicity, occupation, salary, number of persons and ages of persons intheir household, interests, hobbies, product interests, etc. Thisinformation may be stored by the product manufacturer for marketing andother such purposes, thus providing the manufacturer with importantinformation about actual consumers of their products.

In a further embodiment, based on successful registration of thepresentation instrument associated with the coupon offer, themanufacturer may authorize an increase to the coupon offer amount to beassociated with the presentation instrument (process block 330). Assuch, the initial offer of $0.40 off of a clearing product may beincreased to $1.00 off. Therefore, the customer is provided with anincentive to register the presentation instrument and the manufacturerhas the incentive of receiving actual customer data. In addition, themanufacturer now has the ability to contact the customer in order tosend the customer promotional offers, surveys, and additional couponoffers to be associated with the presentation instrument.

FIG. 4 illustrates a system 400 for dynamically generating couponsaccording to aspects of the present invention. In one embodiment, system400 may include a coupon processing host 405 coupled with a manufacturer410. Coupon processing host 405 may be configured to manage thedistribution and processing of the various coupons associated with thepresentation instruments. For example, manufacturer 410 may providecoupon processing host 405 with details and/or terms for a new couponoffer they wish to distribute. Accordingly, based on such details andterms, coupon processing host may generate a number of presentationinstruments for distribution.

In a further embodiment, system 400 may include a stored value host 415coupled to a coupon processing host 405. Coupon processing host 405 maytransmit a request to stored value host 415 to associate a coupon valuewith the generated presentation instruments. In one embodiment, storedvalue host 415 may assign an account number to each of the presentationinstruments along with an assigned value. In one embodiment, the accountnumber would be a unique identifier used to identify each of thepresentation instruments. Furthermore, the account number could then beused to draft the funds from stored value host 415 upon redemption ofthe coupon offer.

System 400 may further include a merchant 420 and a customer 425. In oneembodiment, customer 425 may access merchant 420 either over theInternet, on the phone, or at a store location. Customer 425 may thenpurchase the product for which the coupon is associated. Upon receipt ofthe presentation instrument (e.g., by swiping the instrument at a POSdevice, by providing the account identity from the instrument at awebsite, etc.), merchant 420 may contact stored value host 415 toreceive the funds in the amount of the coupon offer. In one embodiment,merchant 420 may provide stored value host 415 with the accountidentifier and the amount of the discount.

In one embodiment, stored value host 415 may verify the accountinformation and the discount amount. In one embodiment, stored valuehost 415 may be a Value Link™ host; however, other hosts may be used.Upon verification, stored value host 415 may transfer the funds tomerchant 420. Alternatively, stored value host 415 may earmark funds inthe discount amount, and then transmit a payment request to manufacturer410. In one embodiment, stored value host 415 may collect a number ofearmarks for a given period of time (e.g., a day, a week, a month, etc.)and send a payment request to manufacturer 410 for the entire amount.Manufacturer 410 may then transfer the funds to stored value host 415 ormay alternatively transfer the funds directly to merchant 420. Eitherway, once the coupon discount amount has been redeemed, stored valuehost 415 may then notify coupon processing host 405 that the coupon hasbeen redeemed. Accordingly, merchant 420 is paid for the discount in atimely manner and manufacturer 410 is made aware of coupon redemptionsin a timely manner.

In another embodiment, system 400 may further include a branch office430, an IVR system 435, a mobile device 440, and a website 445. Thedistributed presentation instruments may include registrationinstructions. As such, customer 425 may be instructed to go in to branchoffice 430, call in to IVR system 435, instant message or text messagefrom mobile device 440, or logon to website 445 in order to registertheir presentation instrument. In one embodiment, upon registration of apresentation instrument, coupon processing host 405 may be notified.Subsequently, coupon processing host 405 may then notify manufacturer410 and provide manufacturer 410 with the registration information aboutcustomer 425.

Turing now to FIG. 5 which provides a schematic illustration of oneembodiment of a computer system 500 that can perform the methods of theinvention, as described herein, and/or can function, for example, as anypart of coupon processing host 405 in FIG. 4. It should be noted thatFIG. 5 is meant only to provide a generalized illustration of variouscomponents, any or all of which may be utilized as appropriate. FIG. 5,therefore, broadly illustrates how individual system elements may beimplemented in a relatively separated or relatively more integratedmanner.

The computer system 500 is shown comprising hardware elements that canbe electrically coupled via a bus 505 (or may otherwise be incommunication, as appropriate). The hardware elements can include one ormore processors 510, including without limitation one or moregeneral-purpose processors and/or one or more special-purpose processors(such as digital signal processing chips, graphics acceleration chips,and/or the like); one or more input devices 515, which can includewithout limitation a mouse, a keyboard and/or the like; and one or moreoutput devices 520, which can include without limitation a displaydevice, a printer and/or the like.

The computer system 500 may further include (and/or be in communicationwith) one or more storage devices 525, which can comprise, withoutlimitation, local and/or network accessible storage and/or can include,without limitation, a disk drive, a drive array, an optical storagedevice, solid-state storage device such as a random access memory(“RAM”) and/or a read-only memory (“ROM”), which can be programmable,flash-updateable and/or the like. The computer system 500 might alsoinclude a communications subsystem 530, which can include withoutlimitation a modem, a network card (wireless or wired), an infra-redcommunication device, a wireless communication device and/or chipset(such as a Bluetooth™ device, an 802.11 device, a WiFi device, a WiMaxdevice, cellular communication facilities, etc.), and/or the like. Thecommunications subsystem 530 may permit data to be exchanged with anetwork (such as the network described below, to name one example),and/or any other devices described herein. In many embodiments, thecomputer system 500 will further comprise a working memory 535, whichcan include a RAM or ROM device, as described above.

The computer system 500 also can comprise software elements, shown asbeing currently located within the working memory 535, including anoperating system 540 and/or other code, such as one or more applicationprograms 545, which may comprise computer programs of the invention,and/or may be designed to implement methods of the invention and/orconfigure systems of the invention, as described herein. Merely by wayof example, one or more procedures described with respect to themethod(s) discussed above might be implemented as code and/orinstructions executable by a computer (and/or a processor within acomputer). A set of these instructions and/or code might be stored on acomputer readable storage medium, such as the storage device(s) 525described above. In some cases, the storage medium might be incorporatedwithin a computer system, such as the system 500. In other embodiments,the storage medium might be separate from a computer system (i.e., aremovable medium, such as a compact disc, etc.), and or provided in aninstallation package, such that the storage medium can be used toprogram a general purpose computer with the instructions/code storedthereon. These instructions might take the form of executable code,which is executable by the computer system 500 and/or might take theform of source and/or installable code, which, upon compilation and/orinstallation on the computer system 500 (e.g., using any of a variety ofgenerally available compilers, installation programs,compression/decompression utilities, etc.) then takes the form ofexecutable code.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that substantialvariations may be made in accordance with specific requirements. Forexample, customized hardware might also be used, and/or particularelements might be implemented in hardware, software (including portablesoftware, such as applets, etc.), or both. Further, connection to othercomputing devices such as network input/output devices may be employed.

In one aspect, the invention employs a computer system (such as thecomputer system 500) to perform methods of the invention. According to aset of embodiments, some or all of the procedures of such methods areperformed by the computer system 500 in response to processor 510executing one or more sequences of one or more instructions (which mightbe incorporated into the operating system 540 and/or other code, such asan application program 545) contained in the working memory 535. Suchinstructions may be read into the working memory 535 from anothermachine-readable medium, such as one or more of the storage device(s)525. Merely by way of example, execution of the sequences ofinstructions contained in the working memory 535 might cause theprocessor(s) 510 to perform one or more procedures of the methodsdescribed herein.

The terms “machine-readable medium” and “computer readable medium”, asused herein, refer to any medium that participates in providing datathat causes a machine to operate in a specific fashion. In an embodimentimplemented using the computer system 500, various machine-readablemedia might be involved in providing instructions/code to processor(s)510 for execution and/or might be used to store and/or carry suchinstructions/code (e.g., as signals). In many implementations, acomputer readable medium is a physical and/or tangible storage medium.Such a medium may take many forms, including but not limited to,non-volatile media, volatile media, and transmission media. Non-volatilemedia includes, for example, optical or magnetic disks, such as thestorage device(s) 525. Volatile media includes, without limitationdynamic memory, such as the working memory 535. Transmission mediaincludes coaxial cables, copper wire and fiber optics, including thewires that comprise the bus 505, as well as the various components ofthe communication subsystem 530 (and/or the media by which thecommunications subsystem 530 provides communication with other devices).Hence, transmission media can also take the form of waves (includingwithout limitation radio, acoustic and/or light waves, such as thosegenerated during radio-wave and infra-red data communications).

Common forms of physical and/or tangible computer readable mediainclude, for example, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk,magnetic tape, or any other magnetic medium, a CD-ROM, any other opticalmedium, punchcards, papertape, any other physical medium with patternsof holes, a RAM, a PROM, an EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM, any other memory chipor cartridge, a carrier wave as described hereinafter, or any othermedium from which a computer can read instructions and/or code.

Various forms of machine-readable media may be involved in carrying oneor more sequences of one or more instructions to the processor(s) 510for execution. Merely by way of example, the instructions may initiallybe carried on a magnetic disk and/or optical disc of a remote computer.A remote computer might load the instructions into its dynamic memoryand send the instructions as signals over a transmission medium to bereceived and/or executed by the computer system 500. These signals,which might be in the form of electromagnetic signals, acoustic signals,optical signals and/or the like, are all examples of carrier waves onwhich instructions can be encoded, in accordance with variousembodiments of the invention.

The communications subsystem 530 (and/or components thereof) generallywill receive the signals, and the bus 505 then might carry the signals(and/or the data, instructions, etc., carried by the signals) to theworking memory 535, from which the processor(s) 505 retrieves andexecutes the instructions. The instructions received by the workingmemory 535 may optionally be stored on a storage device 525 eitherbefore or after execution by the processor(s) 510.

A set of embodiments comprises systems for implementing stagedconfigurator modeling. In one embodiment, user computers 205 and/orservers 215 may be implemented as computer system 500 in FIG. 5. Merelyby way of example, FIG. 6 illustrates a schematic diagram of a system600 that can be used in accordance with one set of embodiments. Thesystem 600 can include one or more user computers 605. The usercomputers 605 can be general purpose personal computers (including,merely by way of example, personal computers and/or laptop computersrunning any appropriate flavor of Microsoft Corp.'s Windows™ and/orApple Corp.'s Macintosh™ operating systems) and/or workstation computersrunning any of a variety of commercially-available UNIX™ or UNIX-likeoperating systems. These user computers 605 can also have any of avariety of applications, including one or more applications configuredto perform methods of the invention, as well as one or more officeapplications, database client and/or server applications, and webbrowser applications. Alternatively, the user computers 605 can be anyother electronic device, such as a thin-client computer,Internet-enabled mobile telephone, and/or personal digital assistant(PDA), capable of communicating via a network (e.g., the network 610described below) and/or displaying and navigating web pages or othertypes of electronic documents. Although the exemplary system 600 isshown with three user computers 605, any number of user computers can besupported.

Certain embodiments of the invention operate in a networked environment,which can include a network 610. The network 610 can be any type ofnetwork familiar to those skilled in the art that can support datacommunications using any of a variety of commercially-availableprotocols, including without limitation TCP/IP, SNA, IPX, AppleTalk, andthe like. Merely by way of example, the network 610 can be a local areanetwork (“LAN”), including without limitation an Ethernet network, aToken-Ring network and/or the like; a wide-area network (WAN); a virtualnetwork, including without limitation a virtual private network (“VPN”);the Internet; an intranet; an extranet; a public switched telephonenetwork (“PSTN”); an infra-red network; a wireless network, includingwithout limitation a network operating under any of the IEEE 802.11suite of protocols, the Bluetooth™ protocol known in the art, and/or anyother wireless protocol; and/or any combination of these and/or othernetworks.

Embodiments of the invention can include one or more server computers615. Each of the server computers 615 may be configured with anoperating system, including without limitation any of those discussedabove, as well as any commercially (or freely) available serveroperating systems. Each of the servers 615 may also be running one ormore applications, which can be configured to provide services to one ormore clients 605 and/or other servers 615.

Merely by way of example, one of the servers 615 may be a web server,which can be used, merely by way of example, to process requests for webpages or other electronic documents from user computers 605. The webserver can also run a variety of server applications, including HTTPservers, FTP servers, CGI servers, database servers, Java™ servers, andthe like. In some embodiments of the invention, the web server may beconfigured to serve web pages that can be operated within a web browseron one or more of the user computers 605 to perform methods of theinvention.

The server computers 615, in some embodiments, might include one or moreapplication servers, which can include one or more applicationsaccessible by a client running on one or more of the client computers605 and/or other servers 615. Merely by way of example, the server(s)615 can be one or more general purpose computers capable of executingprograms or scripts in response to the user computers 605 and/or otherservers 615, including without limitation web applications (which might,in some cases, be configured to perform methods of the invention).Merely by way of example, a web application can be implemented as one ormore scripts or programs written in any suitable programming language,such as Java™, C, C#™ or C++, and/or any scripting language, such asPerl, Python, or TCL, as well as combinations of anyprogramming/scripting languages. The application server(s) can alsoinclude database servers, including without limitation thosecommercially available from Oracle™, Microsoft™, Sybase™, IBM™ and thelike, which can process requests from clients (including, depending onthe configurator, database clients, API clients, web browsers, etc.)running on a user computer 605 and/or another server 615. In someembodiments, an application server can create web pages dynamically fordisplaying the information in accordance with embodiments of theinvention, such as information displayed website 340 in FIG. 3. Dataprovided by an application server may be formatted as web pages(comprising HTML, Javascript, etc., for example) and/or may be forwardedto a user computer 605 via a web server (as described above, forexample). Similarly, a web server might receive web page requests and/orinput data from a user computer 605 and/or forward the web page requestsand/or input data to an application server. In some cases a web servermay be integrated with an application server.

In accordance with further embodiments, one or more servers 615 canfunction as a file server and/or can include one or more of the files(e.g., application code, data files, etc.) necessary to implementmethods of the invention incorporated by an application running on auser computer 605 and/or another server 615. Alternatively, as thoseskilled in the art will appreciate, a file server can include allnecessary files, allowing such an application to be invoked remotely bya user computer 605 and/or server 615. It should be noted that thefunctions described with respect to various servers herein (e.g.,application server, database server, web server, file server, etc.) canbe performed by a single server and/or a plurality of specializedservers, depending on implementation-specific needs and parameters.

In certain embodiments, the system can include one or more databases620. The location of the database(s) 620 is discretionary: merely by wayof example, a database 620 a might reside on a storage medium local to(and/or resident in) a server 615 a (and/or a user computer 605).Alternatively, a database 620 b can be remote from any or all of thecomputers 605, 615, so long as the database can be in communication(e.g., via the network 610) with one or more of these. In a particularset of embodiments, a database 620 can reside in a storage-area network(“SAN”) familiar to those skilled in the art. (Likewise, any necessaryfiles for performing the functions attributed to the computers 605, 615can be stored locally on the respective computer and/or remotely, asappropriate.) In one set of embodiments, the database 620 can be arelational database, such as an Oracle™ database, that is adapted tostore, update, and retrieve data in response to SQL-formatted commands.The database might be controlled and/or maintained by a database server,as described above, for example.

While the invention has been described with respect to exemplaryembodiments, one skilled in the art will recognize that numerousmodifications are possible. For example, the methods and processesdescribed herein may be implemented using hardware components, softwarecomponents, and/or any combination thereof. Further, while variousmethods and processes described herein may be described with respect toparticular structural and/or functional components for ease ofdescription, methods of the invention are not limited to any particularstructural and/or functional architecture but instead can be implementedon any suitable hardware, firmware and/or software configurator.Similarly, while various functionalities are ascribed to certain systemcomponents, unless the context dictates otherwise, this functionalitycan be distributed among various other system components in accordancewith different embodiments of the invention.

Moreover, while the procedures comprised in the methods and processesdescribed herein are described in a particular order for ease ofdescription, unless the context dictates otherwise, various proceduresmay be reordered, added, and/or omitted in accordance with variousembodiments of the invention. Moreover, the procedures described withrespect to one method or process may be incorporated within otherdescribed methods or processes; likewise, system components describedaccording to a particular structural architecture and/or with respect toone system may be organized in alternative structural architecturesand/or incorporated within other described systems. Hence, while variousembodiments are described with—or without—certain features for ease ofdescription and to illustrate exemplary features, the various componentsand/or features described herein with respect to a particular embodimentcan be substituted, added and/or subtracted from among other describedembodiments, unless the context dictates otherwise. Consequently,although the invention has been described with respect to exemplaryembodiments, it will be appreciated that the invention is intended tocover all modifications and equivalents within the scope of thefollowing claims.

1. (canceled)
 2. A computer-implemented method, comprising: receiving,by a computing system, a request to register an instrument that has aninitial coupon value associated therewith, wherein the request includesat least one of demographic information, personal information,historical spending information, and survey information associated witha particular individual; and increasing, by the computing system basedon the received request, the initial coupon value associated with theinstrument to a value greater than the initial coupon value as incentivefor the particular individual to register the instrument.
 3. The methodof claim 2, further comprising receiving authorization to increase theinitial coupon value associated with the instrument to the value greaterthan the initial coupon value.
 4. The method of claim 2, furthercomprising sending to a mobile device associated with the particularindividual a message that indicates a coupon value expiration date. 5.The method of claim 2, wherein the instrument is one of a tangibleinstrument and a nontangible instrument.
 6. The method of claim 2,further comprising sending to a mobile device associated with theparticular individual a message that indicates availability of an offerassociated with the instrument.
 7. The method of claim 2, furthercomprising sending to a mobile device associated with the particularindividual a message that indicates availability of a loyalty offerassociated with the instrument based on usage of the instrument by theparticular individual.
 8. The method of claim 2, wherein the requestincludes a username and a password associated with the particularindividual.
 9. The method of claim 2, wherein the request includes atleast one of email address, residential address phone number, date ofbirth, ethnicity, occupation, salary, and household occupancy associatedwith the particular individual.
 10. The method of claim 2, furthercomprising sending to a manufacturer computing system the at least oneof the demographic information, personal information, historicalspending information, and survey information associated with theparticular individual.
 11. The method of claim 2, further comprisingreceiving from a manufacturer computing system information associatedwith a particular coupon offer.
 12. The method of claim 11, furthercomprising generating a number of instruments for distribution based onthe information associated with the particular coupon offer.
 13. Themethod of claim 12, further comprising transmitting a request to themanufacturer computing system to associate a particular coupon valuewith the number of instruments for distribution.
 14. The method of claim13, further comprising receiving indication of a coupon value amount andan account number assigned to each of the number of instruments fordistribution.
 15. The method of claim 2, wherein the instrumentcomprises at least one of a form factor card, a stored value card, aprepaid credit card, and a mobile device.
 16. The method of claim 2,further comprising receiving the request from a website over a network.17. The method of claim 2, wherein the instrument includes a barcodethat is encoded with information associated with a particular coupon.18. The method of claim 2, wherein the instrument includes a magneticstrip that is encoded with information associated with a particularcoupon.
 19. The method of claim 2, wherein the instrument includes adescription of one or more steps to complete a registration process. 20.The method of claim 2, further comprising associating another couponvalue with the instrument different than the value greater than theinitial coupon value.
 21. The method of claim 2, wherein the requestincludes an identifier that is associated with the instrument.